Petrovsky Boris Vasilievich (1908-2004) - Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1957), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1966) and RAMS (1957), Minister of Health of the USSR (1965-1980), Director of the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor (1968), laureate of Lenin (1960) and State Prizes of the USSR (1971).

After graduating from the Medical Faculty of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, he worked as a surgeon in the district hospital, the head of the health center of the plant in Podolsk (1931), the junior doctor of the tank brigade and infirmary in Naro-Fominsk (1932), an intern, an assistant, a senior research fellow at the Moscow Oncology Institute and a clinic general surgery at Moscow State University (since 1938). He defended his thesis in 1937. In 1938, B.V. Petrovsky was given the title of senior research fellow (assistant professor). Boris Vasilievich was the deputy head of the field hospital, the leading surgeon of the Karelian Front (1939-1940), a senior researcher at the Moscow Oncological Institute (1940-1941), assistant professor of general surgery at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. N.I. Pirogov (1941). From the first days of WWII B.V. Petrovsky was the leading surgeon of hospitals in the Western, Bryansk and the 2nd Baltic fronts. In the years 1944-1945. B.V. Petrovsky worked as a senior lecturer in the Department of Faculty Surgery of the Military Medical Academy named after C.M. Kirov in Leningrad. He was Deputy Director for Scientific Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in 1945-1948. In 1946 he was the first in the USSR who to perform successful operations for esophageal cancer with its one-horn intrathoracic plasty. In 1947, B.V. Petrovsky defended his doctoral dissertation. He was Professor of the Department of General Surgery of 2nd Moscow Medical Institute N.I. Pirogov in1948-1949, and later (in 1949-1951) B.V. Petrovsky became a Director of the Department of Hospital Surgery, Head of the 3rd Surgical Clinic of the University of Budapest. He was Head of the Department of Faculty Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. N.I. Pirogov in the years 1951-1956. In 1953 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. B. Petrovsky was a Chief Surgeon of the 4th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Health of the USSR from 1953 to 1965. Since 1955, B.V. Petrovsky - deputy chairman, since 1965 - chairman of the All-Union Scientific Society of Surgeons. Since 1956 - Head of the Department of Hospital Surgery and Director of the State Hospital Surgical Clinic of the Medical Faculty of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute. In 1957, B.V. Petrovsky was elected a full member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and he was awarded the honorary title of Honored Worker of Science of the RSFSR and Azerbaijan SSR. In 1960 he was awarded the Lenin Prize for the development and implementation of new operations on the heart and large vessels. In 1963 he was Organizer and Director (1963-1988), since 1989 - Honorary Director of the All-Union Scientific Center of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1964, B.V. Petrovsky performed the first successful operation for prosthetics of the mitral valve of the heart with a mechanical (seamless) fixation. In 1965, for the first time in the USSR, he successfully performed kidney transplantation to man. He was Minister of Health of the USSR from 1965 to 1980. He was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1966. He was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for the development and introduction into clinical practice of kidney transplantation in 1971. In 1979, he was chairman of the Scientific Surgical Council under the Presidium of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. B.V. Petrovsky was a delegate to the XXII, XXIII, XXIV and XXV Congresses of the CPSU (1961, 1966, 1971, 1976), Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1962-1984), candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1966, 1971, 1976). He died on May 4, 2004, at the age of 96.

B.V. Petrovsky was honorary member of 14 foreign scientific medical societies, honorary doctor of 8 universities. He was awarded 16 orders and 8 medals, including the Orders of the Red Star (1942), Lenin (1961, 1965, 1968, 1978), the Second World War (1943, 1985), the October Revolution (1971), Friendship of Peoples (1993), "For Services to the Fatherland" II degree (1998), St. Andrew the Apostle (2003). He was a Laureate of the Lenin (1960) and State Prizes of the USSR (1971), the International Leonard Bernard Prize (1975) and others. B.V. Petrovsky is author over 500 scientific works, including 40 monographs. He created one of the largest scientific surgical schools.